Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the safety of the puberty blocker clinical trial to be undertaken by the NHS this year; and whether the trial is compatible with the indefinite ban on puberty blockers for under-18s announced in December 2024 by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Cass Review, which was the most robust evaluation of gender healthcare in the United Kingdom to date, took stock of all the available evidence regarding use of puberty blockers and concluded that, at present, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of these medicine for the treatment of gender dysphoria and/or incongruence. Similarly, the independent report by the Commission on Human Medicines concluded that there was an ‘absence of long-term safety and efficacy data for this population’.
Better-quality evidence is therefore critical if the National Health Service is to provide reliable, transparent information and advice to support children and young people. That is why the government is supporting NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to set up the ‘PATHWAYS: Puberty Suppression and Transitional Healthcare with Adaptive Youth Services’ study.
The PATHWAYS study proposal is going through all the usual review and approval stages. These include independent academic peer review and National Institute for Health and Care Research funding committee consideration, and it will need to secure full ethical approval ahead of set up and opening to recruitment. The design of the trial, including the safety of participants, is being considered and finalised as part of the approvals process. Subject to the study achieving the necessary approvals, the study protocol will be made available by NIHR in the public domain, as is usual for publicly funded studies. Only once all approvals are in place will the study commence.
Legal provision exists within the current prohibition, namely article 3, which allows the supply of GnRH analogues as part of an authorised clinical trial.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that same-sex couples have equal access to IVF provision.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Funding decisions for health services in England, including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population.
The Government published the first Women’s Health Strategy on 20 July 2022, which contained several important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service funded fertility services. This includes improving access to IVF for female same-sex couples by removing the additional financial burden they face when accessing treatment. NHS England are developing guidance for ICBs to assist in their commissioning plans, which will be published shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they take to monitor disparities in access to fertility treatment caused by local health authorities, in particular surrounding access of same-sex couples to treatment.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of the first-year commitments in the Women’s Health Strategy, we published our in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) transparency tool on GOV.UK in July 2023. This tool compiles published integrated care board policies on their local fertility treatment offer, to inform patients, to keep track nationally of implementation progress, and to highlight poor performers.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines Fertility problems: assessment and treatment, published on 20 February 2013 and updated on 6 September 2017, what assessment they have made of the access criteria for IVF.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines are currently under review by NICE, who expects revised guidelines to be published by the end of 2024.
The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our longer-term ambition to work with NHS England and integrated care boards to ensure that the recommendations of the revised guidelines are fully implemented.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to develop a national tariff for fertility treatment in order to achieve a strategy to achieve best value for the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
A benchmark price for in-vitro fertilisation and intracytoplasmic sperm injection remains part of the new NHS Payment Scheme. There are no current plans to develop a national tariff for these treatments.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that young people considering gender transition have adequate access to information about long-term health effects of gender reassignment surgery and drugs.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the efficacy of the invitation issued by the NHS Cervical Screening Programme which is addressed to women, people with a cervix and trans men if they have a cervix; and what steps they will take to ensure that the provision of cervical screening services is not degraded by a lack of clarity concerning eligibility for them.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We are aware that cancer screening coverage is lower in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. Such inequalities are due partially to individuals being unsure which National Health Service screening programmes they are eligible for or how to access screening if they are not automatically invited. We have therefore worked with Cancer Research UK and Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust to amend the language used in cervical screening to include ‘women and anyone with a cervix’. The same terminology has also been applied to the NHS cervical screening leaflet.
We have also provided a leaflet for transgender and non-binary individuals, which explains which patient groups the NHS invites for screening and how eligible people can access screening if they are not automatically invited.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to reinstating routine tongue-tie checks for newborn babies.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
While there is no specific national screening programme or requirement for routinely checking for tongue-tie in newborn babies, where there are difficulties with breast feeding, it is a factor to be considered by health professionals. The Healthy Child Programme will be updated later this year to include guidance on supporting families to connect with services to manage the condition.
We have also recently announced £50 million to improve breastfeeding support. Local authorities will have flexibility in deciding how this funding is used to support families. This may include investing in staff training to discuss additional needs, such as tongue-tie or challenges with lactation and ensuring timely support and treatment is available and accessible.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Kamall on 9 November (HL Deb, col 1588) that the time limit for storage of gametes and embryos will be amended by legislation to extend it beyond 10 years "when parliamentary time allows", when they expect that to be achieved.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Department is in the process of finalising the details of the policy. The detailed implementation of the policy will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their proposal to increase the current 10-year storage limits for eggs, sperm and embryos, whether they will immediately introduce a moratorium on the destruction of eggs that reach their 10-year limit before the legislation is passed.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The detailed implementation of the policy will be announced in due course.